Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Delicious Spinach Lasagna

Spinach lasagna is one of my favorite dishes of all time and I thought you might enjoy it too, so I am going to share my recipe!

Okay, so I like to start all my major cooking/baking adventures with filling my sink with warm soapy water and tossing any dishes laying around into it while I cook and dropping things in once I am done using them, it makes clean up super fast.  Also, preheat your oven to 350 degrees.


Ingredients:
  • 9 lasagna noodles
  • large can of your favorite pasta sauce
  • at least 2 pounds of mozzarella cheese
  • 2 cups of cottage cheese (or ricotta-I prefer ricotta but my husband likes cottage cheese)
  • Parmesan cheese
  • 1 bag of salad spinach (or you can use two packs of frozen spinach, but you have to thaw them then) 



Directions:

1.  Cover the bottom of your lasagna pan with a thin layer of sauce to keep the noodles from sticking.
2.  Layer three noodles in the bottom of the pan (I put my broken noodles on the bottom).
3.  Layer half of your cottage cheese, 1 cup of mozzarella cheese,  half your spinach, some tomato sauce, and sprinkle with Parmesan (you can use more or less of any ingredient, to make it to your tastes).  Add another layer of noodles and repeat.
4.  Add final layer of noodles and cover with pasta sauce, mozzarella cheese, and Parmesan.  Put this in an oven at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes, you can tell it is done when you can see the cheese bubbling on the sides.
5.  While your lasagna bakes, clean up your mess.  This is what time my timer read in order to get my entire kitchen back in order after this (start time was 45 minutes, so it only took 6 minutes to get everything clean!)
6 minutes to a clean kitchen, yes please!

Even my stovetop was cleaned up!
6.  Remove your lasagna, let it sit for at LEAST 15 minutes before cutting it to serve. (This helps it to firm up and not fall to pieces when serving).

Then enjoy!  One of the best parts of this meal?  It can be prepared in advance and cooked the next day and it reheats well in the microwave for leftovers for lunch or dinner!

What About You?  Do you enjoy spinach lasagna?  What are your favorite dishes?

Sunday, July 22, 2012

House Update

I know I have not posted anything on my house in forever.  I believe I left off on the pictures of all the cat craziness and sanding.  We had a LOT of help with the painting by throwing a painting party!  The rules of a painting party are these:  workers will be paid in food and beer, have fun, and get the place painted!

Our friends Lauren, Phil, and Callie all came from out of state to visit and help paint.  It was great to see them all, and they were all quite the help!  Our local friends Matt and Theresa also helped Thomas and I to get a lot of wall/ceiling covered in a pretty short amount of time.  I think we all had fun, and a lot of painting got done!

Lauren taping off our bathroom vanity.

The boys attempting to reattach the light/fan fixture in the living room...there was a lot of cursing done by Thomas.  I also believe there was a threat on my life when I took this picture...something Thomas said about hoping I died in a fire or something...he was so unhappy.

Theresa cheerfully painting the kitchen yellow! 

Lauren painting the accent wall in our bedroom.
 Overall, I think everyone had a decent time getting to hang out and paint, we did not pain all weekend though!  We also took a break to watch The Avengers in the theater down the street from our house and went to the local Arboretum to enjoy the nice weather and see the beautiful flowers.











I love visiting the arboretum and introducing other people to it.  The flowers are always changing and they have so many different types of gardens--my favorite is the pollinator garden, with the rose garden next in line.  

What About You?  Do you enjoy painting?  What about the other aspects of painting (sanding, taping, etc)?  What are your favorite types of gardens?

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Sorry It Has Been So Long!

Hey everyone!  Sorry I have been away from blogging for so long.  When things get busy, it just does not seem like a priority and seems to fall to the wayside :/  I probably need to do what others do and establish a posting schedule to try to keep me writing at least once or twice a week.

What I have been up to, the quick update (I plan on posting more detailed accounts of everything I am listing here!):  new house maintenance (painting, edging, removing toilets/vanities/baseboards, and picking floors), changing over addresses on everything, trying to live between two places, two days of awesome family time during the family reunion, big projects at work (and a massive breakthrough!), and ArtsFest!

Maybe it does not sound like a lot, but it sure FEELS like it!  I have also been working on my procrastination list and whittling it down today, which makes me feel great and productive.  I have decided that I will be doing the Insanity workout with my husband and today will be the first day...cannot decide if this is exciting or terrifying for me...guess you will get to follow some of my progress :D

So that is the quick update, with more detailed posts to follow.  I will let you know when/if I decide to schedule regular posting days!

What About You?  How do you decide when you are going to blog?  Do you have the habit of letting things go when you are busy and how do you cope with it if so?